Sure, it's racist ... but it's ultra feminist too
Especially for its time. Let's not forget: before Ripley, before Sarah O' Connor there was Scarlet O' Hara -- the baddest bitch of them all.
shareScarlett wasn't feminist, not really. She didn't give a rat's ass about women's legal rights or women's welfare or well, anyone but herself.
She was just someone who didn't think the restrictions placed on women should apply to HER! She wouldn't dream of thinking about the big picture or relationships between the sexes in general (or races), she just wanted what she wanted and wouldn't let expectations of ladylike behavior slow her down.
Fiddle-dee-dee!
shareIt's probably a bit of a stretch to call Scarlett a feminist. Then again, it's probably straining credulity to call Ripley or Sarah feminists too. What these women had in common was that they pulled themselves up and survived in a man's world. None of them were an Emma Goldman but they were emblematic of the many things people like Emma stood for -- like asserting yourself when everyone else wants you to embrace the status quo and remain in the background, with no agency, always dependent on men.
shareWhich Sarah? Sarah Connor?
The thing is, Scarlett never really questioned the idea that women should always be dainty and ladylike and dependent on men, she thought that was the way things ought to be and it wasn't her fault if the men had let her down and she had to do whatever she could to earn a living and save the family plantation! Like I said, she never really thought about these things, in the book we see much of what's in her mind, and the fact is that while she's going out and picking cotton and running lumber mills with convict labor and ignoring all her society's rules for women, she never questioned the idea that women should be Great Ladies. It was just circumstances preventing her from being submissive and dependent and ladylike, and occasionally she even felt guilty about her failure to be what she thought a woman should be. And then she went out and shot a union soldier in the face or something.
Sorry, I should of said Sarah Connor.
She's a strong, independent woman who managed to save herself and her folks from starvation, the Yanks, Carpetbaggers and much more. She had "gumption" -- as her creator Margaret Mitchell put it -- and while she may not be a paragon of feminism she certainly is of survival. She's vain, mean, conniving, tough-as-nails -- all traits that keep her alive. And the ability to survive is certainly something feminists, non-feminists -- heck, everyone -- can admire.
You understand her perfectly!
But yeah, not every tough woman is a feminist, and Scarlett definitely isn't. Margaret Mitchell... maybe. Sort of.
"The usual masculine disillusionment is discovering that a woman has a brain." - Margaret Mitchell
shareSurvival by any means necessary at the expense of your fellow humans is generally called Psychopathy.
If you want to elevate to a virtue an antisocial mental illness generally shared by the most hardened criminals society has ever produced, knock yourself out.
Sociopathy. Unfortunately it's a characteristic commonly found amongst those in business and politics, and is in general admired by many.
sharein the book we see much of what's in her mind, and the fact is that while she's going out and picking cotton and running lumber mills with convict labor and ignoring all her society's rules for women, she never questioned the idea that women should be Great Ladies. It was just circumstances preventing her from being submissive and dependent and ladylike, and occasionally she even felt guilty about her failure to be what she thought a woman should be. And then she went out and shot a union soldier in the face or something.
That's not entirely true. Before the war, Scarlett was full of criticism for Pre-war Southern society, particularly with how women were expected to behave in order to catch a husband and always being encouraged to hide how their intelligence and letting their husbands take credit for all their plantation and household management, in order not to appear "unladylike." share
Sure, she was critical about some of the things ladies were expected to do, such as pretending to have no appetite at parties, but all her criticisms were comparatively small. She may have questioned the methods used to get a well-off husband, but never the necessity.
And she never did question the idea that women really ought to be a Great Lady like her mother, even if she actually spent her life doing everything great ladies were forbidden to do. She never really thought that issue out.
Scarlett is a very strong woman (within a novel indeed, cause she isnt a real person). And that what counts. Not being a queer feminist and therefor destroying everything that real strong women fought for.
shareWhat's wrong with being part of the LGBTQ community? None those women are any less the women that they are than their heterosexual counterparts. That's nonsense.
shareI have no problem with "converted" women. As less as with "converted" men. A friend is one. But my problem start when "converted" women think that they could use woman shower and small girls (by sex) feel awkward with humans, which were once men, are being in the same shower room. Or when queer feminists state that the gender gap isnt a thing, cause there is no thing such "man" and "woman". Thats horrible and destroys everything women fight for during the last century!
share.... I'm not even going to bother making sense out of any of that nonsense, especially whatever the hell "converts" are or that you think they are... Enjoy your warped homophobic existence.
shareIm using terms I prefer. And indeed you dont understand the danger of queer feminism for women. Cause you dont care for anything beside your little mindset.
shareSo in other words, she was a typical woman.
shareScarlett was a sociopath. Run down the check list.
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